Adele talks coming back to Earth at '30'

It's been more than a decade since the singer/songwriter Adele released her epic breakup album 21, which became one of the most overwhelmingly successful records in history and transformed her from promising talent to indelible superstar.

The time since has brought with it more success — an nearly equally successful third album, 25, a James Bond theme song, sold-out worldwide tours (all of them) — as well as personal growth and struggle. Just like all of us.

Indeed, as NPR Music critic Ann Powers writes that Adele's new album, 30, "engages with the world — through lyrics that trade adolescent romanticism for genuine self-examination, arrangements that reflect the present moment, and a vocal presence as warm and multifaceted as Adele is in interviews and her onstage patter, where she's a pal who tells long stories and makes jokes, not a gravitational force."

We spoke with Adele about the process of writing, recording and feeling her way through , which is